South Africa’s rail utility, Spoornet, has already been paid R63 324 by a private security company for thefts which were carried out after the luxury Blue Train and Shosholoza Meyl crash between De Aar and Beaufort West in the Karoo on Wednesday October 26.
Replying to a parliamentary question from Democratic Alliance MP Stuart Farrow, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said Spoornet procured the services of a private security company to provide security at the site of the incident ”and also to prevent the theft of equipment and goods from the train after the accident”.
Asked by Farrow what was stolen after the crash and who would be accountable for those losses, Radebe said crockery, cutlery, linen and liquor were stolen. ”The private security company … was held accountable for the losses due to the theft [which was] directly attributed to the actions of their employees.”
The security company had accepted accountability for the theft and ”several of their employees have been arrested on charges of theft,” said the minister.
Radebe noted that the Railway Safety Regulator had commissioned an independent board of inquiry into the incident. Owing to the independence of the investigation ”the involvement of persons or institutions with a vested interest may influence or have an impact on the independence of the investigation,” he said.
”It is for this reason that neither the operator nor the representative unions can be part of the inquiry. The outcome … will be shared with both the operator and the representatives of labour,” said Radebe.
It was reported at the time that more than 44 tourists were on the Blue Train at the time of the crash and around two dozen people were injured.
The luxury train was waiting for Shosholoza Meyl — the Trans Karoo Express — to pass it when the crash occurred at Deelfontein station in the Northern
Cape. – I-Net Bridge